In European club soccer, we’re getting the Spanish version of it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. At the international level, AC Milan have taken the Champions League title, while the UEFA Cup has been won by Sevilla. In England, in Germany, in Italy, and in France, the domestic season has finished, and the champions have been crowned.

But not in Spain, where the championship is reaching a frenetic climax. With two games to play, Real Madrid and Barcelona are level with 72 points each, and Sevilla is right behind them with 70.

Real is the favorite because it has already claimed the tie-breaker — it recorded one win and a tie against Barcelona during the season. If the clubs are still even at the end of the season on June 17, Real will be Spanish champions for the first time since 2003.

So much for the dry statistical stuff. On the field, it’s nail-biting drama all the way. On Sunday, both Barcelona and Real won their games, but the results were accompanied by plenty of controversy. The build-up to Real’s first goal in its 3–1 win over Deportivo Coruna, for instance, looked to be clearly tainted by a handball offense from its Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelroy.

Evidently the referee saw nothing wrong. It was a different story in the Barcelona vs. Getafe game where, in the 40th minute, the referee immediately punished a retaliatory foul by Barca’s Brazilian star Ronaldinho with a red card ejection.

Already leading 1–0 on a goal by Ronaldinho, Barca’s 10 men held on, through many a nervous moment, for the win. But it may have lost Ronaldinho, its most important player, for the remaining two crucial games. A red card is normally followed by a one game suspension, but the League’s competition committee, meeting today, may decide that Ronaldinho’s crime (he kicked an opponent who had fouled him) merits two games.

Barcelona will try to convince the committee that the red card was an exaggerated response from the referee, but it is unlikely to succeed. Maybe another, rather more questionable, tactic will bring success. That of offering prize money to Real’s opponents.

Illegal? No. The money, after all, is not a bribe to lose, but rather a sweetener encouraging a team to win. But it is clearly a shady business where rumors feed on each other. Already, before this weekend’s games, the Barcelona press had alleged that Real Madrid was offering prize money to Getafe. From Madrid came counterclaims that Barca had offered money to Deportivo. If so, both sweetening attempts turned sour, with wins for Real and Barca.

As for the remaining games, Barca would seem to have the easier task — a home game against Espanyol (11th in the League) and a road game against Gimnastica (in last place, already relegated to the second division for next season). Real’s final game, on June 17 at home against Mallorca (12th), should not bother them too much. But the difficult one comes on June 10, at Real Zaragoza.

At the moment, Zaragoza is in fifth position in the league — which will entitle it to play in Europe’s UEFA Cup next season. It is too far behind to move up to fourth place (which would mean entry into the Champions League), but it needs a win in its final two games to make sure it holds on to fifth position. Zaragoza is a very difficult team to beat in its home stadium, La Romareda, where it has not lost since last December, posting a record there this year of 7–0–3.

Zaragoza, then, holds the key to the championship. Real must win there — a tie would probably be fatal for its championship hopes, as the assumption is that Barca will win its remaining games.

The rumors and suspicions continue. A television program has reported that Barcelona has offered the Zaragoza players $67,000 each if they beat Real Madrid — or double that amount should Barcelona go on to win the title.

At least one of the Zaragoza players should need no incentive to defeat Real. Argentine defender and club captain Gabriel Milito suffered a bitter disappointment at the hands of the Madrid club in 2003. He was brought to Spain by Real with much fanfare as the player to replace their famous captain, Fernando Hierro. But on the eve of the introductory press conference, Real canceled the deal, saying that its medical department had determined that a previous knee injury made Milito too risky a signing.

Milito stayed in Spain and joined Zaragoza, where he has played virtually every game for the past four seasons. Madrid later got an okay from its medical department to sign the English player Jonathan Woodgate, who has since lived up to his notorious reputation of being injury prone and played only nine games in two years at the club.

Milito’s older brother Diego joined Zaragoza in 2005 and is currently the club’s leading scorer with 19 goals this season. Diego, too, has a special reason for looking forward to the Madrid game. In last year’s semifinal of the Spanish King’s Cup competition, he scored four goals as Zaragoza dismantled Madrid 6–1.

At Real Madrid, a big plus has been the return of David Beckham. Last year coach Fabio Capello made it clear that Beckham was not going to get much playing time — an attitude that led directly to Beckham’s announcement that he would be leaving Madrid at the end of the current season to sign with MLS club, the Los Angeles Galaxy. Times have changed: Madrid has returned to its winning ways, and Beckham has been welcomed back into the side.

Should it win the title, it will be the first trophy that the club has won since Beckham joined it.

For the Galaxy, watching from afar as it awaits the imminent arrival of its expensive star, there is a bittersweet flavor to Beckham’s sudden surge of form. Because, like Capello, England coach Steve McClaren has changed his mind and welcomed Beckham back.

It’s a move that causes some concern at the Galaxy, for FIFA has warned the club that it must release him whenever McClaren wants him, exhibition games included. Choosing his words carefully, the Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas said: “I don’t want to stand in the way of a player representing his country … but from a business perspective, it is not the greatest news, as we are selling a team with David Beckham in it and a lot of people are excited about seeing him play with the Galaxy.”

pgardner@nysun.com